Even when I Stopped for Death
by Cleon16
Summary: When he awoke, it had been a long time since he had last looked upon the world, it had certainly changed! Rated M to be safe (swearing, murder etc.)
1. Chapter 1

**Even When I Stopped for Death**

**Chapter 1: It had to happen at some point…**

When Tenrou Island had been devastated by a storm which almost saw the entire island drowned, nothing happened. The local flora and fauna survived and the nonexistent human inhabitants remained nonexistent. When Red Lizard settled the island and subsequently reshaped a part of the island in order to build their homes, nothing happened. All that lived remained living, that which didn't wasn't asked. When Blue Skull massacred the entire island's humanoid population (except for the lone survivor) which meant a lot of explosions and other generally peace-disturbing things, nothing happened. The animals and plants took back that which the humans had taken and the lone survivor left.

All things considered it had to be said that Tenrou Island was a place where things didn't happen. Which was why it was only logical that Fairy Tail installed their immortality tree at that location, their first master's grave was just an added bonus. However, in X784 something happened.

There are very few things that could actually register to those who exiled themselves to the depths of their own minds, the fact that this particular exile's world had already died and been reshaped seven times was one of these things that hadn't registered. The Fairy Tail tree which kept its members from dying whilst on Tenrou Island, was nothing to someone who had felt magic try and take their life in the most direct way possible. However, certain things always remain as triggers, things that the exile really (doesn't) like(s). In this case someone proclaimed themselves to be trained by a god, which really annoyed this particular exile. Eyes with the colour of death opened for the first time since before the dawn of this particular world's time. "Fucking hell, that bloody fucking cushioning charm wore off!"

Makarov Dreyar was old. He was old enough to have been present when Mavis Vermillion lived, though he had been only an infant at the time. And as one of his brats fought a clearly far more powerful opponent whilst he was unable to properly assist because he had been defeated by his old mentor, he felt all 88 of those years weighing down on him. But he hadn't been the third master of Fairy Tail because he stopped fighting when his body started protesting, he hadn't devoted his life to his brats continued wellbeing just to give up when the times seemed at their darkest, he wasn't done yet.

Zancrow was having the time of his life, as he usually did when he was burning stuff. One of the benefits of being a mentally disturbed pyromaniac with enough internal firepower (literally and figuratively) to burn just about anything was that happiness wasn't often more than an 'accidental' bit of fire away. As such, burning a fire dragon slayer whilst consuming said lizard-spawn's own pathetic attempts at fire for extra fuel was just about equal to consuming the nectar of the gods to him. For Zancrow, life was good. And as the universe dictates, such moments must be ruined. He was sure that bloody relic was as close to dead whilst still being alive that if he had a coffin he'd have been six feet under by now, but no, the bloody stuping old fucker had to go and go all giganto-arm on him and ruin his fun. "Let go of me you gods be damned old fart! I'll burn ya to fucking cinders!"

Makarov was holding on for dear life, though in this case holding on brought death significantly closer. He knew that keeping his fist around this god slayer fellow whilst said fellow was doing his utmost best to burn everything it could possibly reach was a bad idea, even if he had been in full health. Therefore, doing so whilst magically and physically spent was about equal to suicide. But he'd be damned if his brat would be killed just because he wasn't willing to die to prevent it. The only problem was, whilst he was crushing his opponent in his wrist, said opponent was roasting his brat alive, he needed to think of something! Which is why it was such a shock to him to suddenly feel a new presence appear in his vicinity and for a rush of magic to strike his opponent. "Who? What? How!?"

If there was one thing that he hated, it was people who thought they were (like) gods. After all that had happened to him he was not letting anyone who thought like that get away with whatever awful thing they were probably (planning on) doing. As such, when he became aware of someone claiming to be a fire god slayer, he immediately went to where his senses told him this twat was currently located. When he saw the fight between his target, a teenager and an old man he acted first and considered the consequences later, some habits are hard to break. He flicked his wand and sent him (Zancrow or something stupid like that) straight into the nearest hard surface. He followed this up by stunning Zanshit and then catapulting his body as far away from his curreny location as an overpowered banishing charm could, which was quite a way when using the elder wand. "That should shut him up for the next while, probably... Are you two alright?"

"Who are you? And how did you get onto this island?" "Whohow, dude what magic was that? Can I eat it? Fight me!" In terms of having their priorities straight, he had to give it to the old man over the teenager. The old man's questions could be explained are were useful in the current situation. The teenager's questions were somewhat reminiscent of his first human friend and held a lot less importance, also... "First of all, no I won't fight you, you just got out of a fucking fight with someone that was quite clearly beating the living shit out of you. Second of all, no you can't eat it, I think... Anyway, third of all, my magic, that's what that was now shut up! To answer your questions, I don't know how I arrived on this island, I don't remember anything except the last five minutes. As for who I am? Last I remember my name was Lord Harry James Potter-Black-Peverell."

**End of Chapter 1: It had to happen at some point…**

**Chapter 2: He just left...**

**Author's Note: **So this note is a bit overdue but that's because I made some errors in uploading the first chapter. If you are reading this note, that means chapter 2 will be uploaded (soon).

First of all, thank you for all the positive reactions on chapter 1, much appreciated!

Second of all, there are some 'rules' that I made which will define the way I shape my version of the 'combined' Harry Potter and Fairy Tail universe.

Harry Potter hates people who think they are (like) a god

Earthland has no gods. Celestial Spirits and the 18 war gods/gods of battle are just magical creatures (like Griffins and Dementors) that are just very powerful

I removed the whole thing with Natsu eating Zancrow's flames because it made very little sense and had little to no impact on the rest of the Fairy Tail canon (as far as I can remember)

I made Harry's scar sensitive to life and death related things (like Zeref's death magic) because of plot reasons


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: He just left...**

"... Last I remember my was Lord Harry James Potter-Black-Peverell." Harry told the old man before him. He saw no point in hiding the name he held amongst the magical population, as far as he remembered. The Potter family had only gained lordship status because Harry had combined the wealth and history of his ancestors with his fame, which had been more than enough to grand his house this new rank. The Black family was one of the older and more well-established names in the British magical society, which meant that Harry had also gained a rather high ranking status on top of his fame and wealth. However, it had been the Peverell name that had really locked his position of most powerful and influential member of the British government down. The Peverell family was so old and so powerful that Harry had been almost completely legally untouchable as long as he did not commit murder. To Harry this meant that he could use his position to reform most of the British society in such a way as to restore the ancient traditions, or at least those that didn't include sacrificing non-magicals and other nasty things, and push them out of the Victorian era and towards the more modern times. Hermione had been extremely happy, especially after he had nominated her for the position of Minister of Magic. Needless to say, Harry was well aware of the status his name held.

He was also rather well known for his ability to get lost in his thoughts for a long fucking time. As was happening right now.

"Lord Harry whatnow?" Apparently it had been a while. When he last met another human his name had been enough to get people's attention in good and in bad ways, fans and potential enemies. It appeared that such a thing was unlikely to happen for the next while, he hoped. "Don't worry about it, just call me Harry or Mr. Potter if you want to be formal." "Eh... whatever. FIGHT ME!" "Shut up Natsu!" Apparently this Natsu had a thing for fighting people, and this old man seemed extremely familiar with this attitude, interesting.

Makarov was extremely puzzled by the man before him. He had appeared out of nowhere, easily taken down an opponent who had seemed pretty fucking powerful, and seemed completely unconcerned about it all. He needed to establish whether or not this person was a potential enemy for the short term and try and get his guild together to fight Grimoire Heart in the long term, he really needed a break. "Young man, I hope I can convince you that any and all people baring our guild mark" here he pointed to the mark that Natsu was proudly displaying at his mentioning of said mark "our not your enemy and any other beings are? And if so, could you please help us repel these invaders?" He threw the man before him a rope, now to see if he grabs it. "As long as they don't attack me I'm sure it'll be fine. Now, I am going after that dude I blasted away just now, I want to make sure he doesn't get any funny ideas about getting back up. If that's all, I'll be going, I think I can still track him..." Well, that was about as good a response as Makarov had hoped for. "Thank you, come find us when the fighting is done will you?" "If either of us doesn't die I'll be sure to do so. Cheers!" And with that the latest mystery made to walk in the direction he'd blasted Zancrow in.

Harry had just started to leave the two people he'd helped when the younger of the two launched himself toward him. "Fight me! I wanna know how strong you are!" Such a bother. Harry transfigured the earth into a stone wall to intercept the teenager and used the distraction to apparate to the top of the cliff and continue his search for his target. He'd track him down and find out what he was talking about with his 'god slayer' business.

How bloody fucking hard could finding one fucking wizard on an island fucking be! Harry was becoming increasingly annoyed at the limits that his ability to track people had. A simple point-me charm (thanks Hermione) was nice for finding north, but it did not actually tell him where to find a specific individual. However, he did manage to detect faint traces of his target's magical aura which meant that he could follow some sort of trail, until the aura had dissipated after it had been too long since his target had left the area. So now he was relying on his instinct and magically enhanced senses to try and determine the location of Zancrow the god slayer. He fucking hated this.

Harry had been walking for quite a while when he suddenly fell to his knees and pressed a hand to the almost faded remains of his famous scar. After Voldemort's demise it had become extremely sensitive to death magic and other practices related to life and death, that had been a great tool in the aftermath of the war as it had pointed him towards hidden artefacts on more than one occasion. And now it almost felt like Voldemort was back, which he knew was not the case. Someone must be using some extremely powerful death magic on the island. Luckily, this meant that Harry knew where he needed to go. He sprinted in the direction of the magic, he did always rush headfirst into danger.

Death... Death was everywhere.

The plants.

The animals.

The lone human.

All dead.

Harry James Potter-Black-Peverell had told Makarov Dreyar his full name. However, he had not told him of the titles he possessed:

Boy-Who-Lived

Man-Who-Conquered

And one other, one that had defined his life after Voldemort:

Master of Death

"Zancrow, I summon thee" He murmured as he twisted the ring three times.

**End of Chapter 2: He just left...**

**Chapter 3: A Dead Man Tells His Tale...**

**Author's Note: **

There are some 'rules' that I made which will define the way I shape my version of the 'combined' Harry Potter and Fairy Tail universe.

Harry Potter hates people who think they are (like) a god

Earthland has no gods. Celestial Spirits and the 18 war gods/gods of battle are just magical creatures (like Griffins and Dementors) that are just very powerful

I removed the whole thing with Natsu eating Zancrow's flames because it made very little sense and had little to no impact on the rest of the Fairy Tail canon (as far as I can remember)

I made Harry's scar sensitive to life and death related things (like Zeref's death magic) because of plot reasons

(I will expand this list as I add to it).


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A Dead Man Tells His Tale...**

"Zancrow, I summon thee" He murmured as he twisted the ring three times.

Everything seemed to shiver for the briefest instant, as was prone to happen whenever the more powerful life and death related powers were at work. The soil frozen and thawed, the plants withered and revived, life ended and restarted and the very air stopped before moving on in its perpetual movement. Whenever these moments came to pass, something monumental happened. On Tenrou Island this was the second time in relatively quick succession that this happened. The first time it had caused the demise of Zancrow of Grimoire Heart, the second time it called his shade from the beyond.

"Oi oi oi, what's this!" Apparently Zancrow had not yet fully processed his demise and his sudden forceful return to the living realm had only enhanced his confusion. "Zancrow of Grimoire Heart" When Harry spoke his voice had lost all of its life, each and every single syllable resonated with the power that came with being the Master of Death "I have summoned you from the eternal rest to answer my questions. Do you understand?"

Zancrow looked like he wanted nothing more than to prove the saying of 'Dead Man Tell no Tales' true, however in the face of Harry's power... Dead man did in fact tell tales, for they could not lie nor remain silent in his presence. "Fine! What do ya want? And how are you able to make me do this!" "How I am able to do this? The stone on my ring. What do I want? I want you to tell me how you died and what gave you your magic." Using the Resurrection Stone required an enormous amount of power so Harry was being very economical in his questioning of Zancrow, he knew that every minute that he kept the shade on the mortal plain he would repay with at least an hour of rest before he'd be back at his normal level.

"I died because that bastard Zeref decided that would be a great thing to do, I don't know why, you should ask him. As for how I got my magic? Well, most of the members of Grimoire Heart came from the Bureau of Magical Development. After we got away from there, master Hades taught us various magics that he had discovered on his travels. God slayer magic comes from lacrima that are imbued in people. Where they are made and what is inside them is not something I know." "So you weren't trained or whatever by some sort of godlike being?" "Unless you count master Hades in this category, no." "Thank you, now rest eternally Zancrow of Grimoire Heart."

Harry watched as the shade of Zancrow faded out of the mortal plain whilst he contemplated the meaning of this latest bit of information. 'It would appear that there are no gods around so that's good. However, I am slightly concerned about these lacrima. I wonder who or what has the means to make them, and how they do so. Well, that's something we can worry about later, I should probably go and find those brats that Makarov talked about. They do seem like a lively bunch don't they?...' He let his thoughts trail of as he used an incendio charm to burn Zancrow's body, it was the closest to an actual funeral he was willing to go for his unfortunate fool of an opponent.

Harry had been tracking Makarov's magical signature for quite some time now, he thought that if he managed to find the 'master' (or whatever title the old man held) then he would find the rest of his 'allies' soon enough, when he arrived at a semi-large clearing in the woods that covered a large part of Tenrou Island. In this clearing he found a group of people fighting against a single man. However, as this man had the same mark as Zancrow had, Harry assumed that this man was a part of Grimoire Heart and therefore an enemy.

Harry contemplated whether or not he should include himself in this fight, but as he was watching one of the fighters used some pretty nifty magic to control one of his 'allies' which meant that he could attack his opponent despite his opponents rather impressive usage of magic to trap all of his opponents. After a few more seconds of readily delivered violence the Grimoire Heart flunky was sent flying.

Seeing as the group was still in battle-mode and not wishing to fight potential allies when low on magic Harry decided to announce his presence before approaching the group. "Hello there, am I correct in assuming you guys to be members of the Fairy Tail guild?" As one the entire group turned to look at him which caused a series of reactions. Most of the group appeared to think he was a potential enemy, which caused them to get into fighting positions, whilst Makarov simply raised an eyebrow at his appearance. However, one member of the group, Bickslow if the cries of his friends were to be believed, fell to his knees as he moaned in pain. "Aaah! What's wrong with your soul!" "Ah, that's a bother..." Apparently this Bickslow used some sort of soul-based magic which worked through his eyes, that kind of magic really didn't mix with his status, time for damage control, no need to play that card yet. "My sincerest apologies Makarov. It appears that your 'brat' or whatever you called them has soul-magic. Unfortunately, due to some pretty annoying artefacts that got fused with me in my youth, I no longer have a normal soul so to speak. I imagine his brain is currently trying to comprehend my human-not-human soul and the fact that it doesn't function normally." "What do you mean 'not function normally'?" "I don't age, well, my body doesn't." 'And neither do I but they don't need to know that ... yet ... I think'.

The entire group looked stunned by this revelation, though Makarov had managed to convey his status of 'ally' to the others so at least the hostility was no longer present. A teenage girl with white hair seemed to gather herself and asked "Exactly how old are you? You look 17 just like me." "Well, my body got frozen at that age but that was quite some time ago. Unfortunately I don't exactly remember much of what happened in my recent history, amnesia or something I assume, but the last birthday I can remember was my 139th one."

**End of Chapter 3: A Dead Man Tells His Tale...**

**Author's note:**

I really would have liked to upload this chapter way earlier than this but I am really bad at writing interactions between characters that I do not fully control, which means that writing dialogue for this story is though. If I have characters that I can completely mould as I see fit, I can actually write some pretty decent stuff but I do not want to make the characters in this story too different compared to their respective canon.

Rules/Notes/Etc.:

\- Harry Potter really doesn't like people who think they are (like) a god.

\- Earthland has no gods, Celestial Spirits and the 18 gods of battle are magical creatures that are simply a bit fucking powerful.

\- The whole Natsu eating Zancrow's flames thing doesn't happen. Removed it because in the rest of canon Fairy Tail this has no impact (that I know of).

\- Harry's scar is sensitive to life and death related things (death magic etc.)

\- Using the Resurrection Stone requires a lot of power

\- I made the Bureau of Magical Development as the origin of the members of Grimoire Heart that I do not know/cannot find the specific origin of. This way they have some sort of root which allows me to develop their characters if I ever want to.

\- "talking" 'thinking' foreign language (parseltongue/Dutch/whatever)

\- I don't know whether or not Makarov was actually present during the fight with Rustyrose but for the sake of convenience I've added him.

\- I decided to make Bickslow's kind of magic have an adverse reaction to Harry's existence just because I felt like soul-magic and MoD didn't mix.


End file.
